The present invention relates to an ink removal device, and in particular to an ink removal device that removes residual ink from a wiper thereof.
Residual ink accumulated on an inkjet printer becomes dense or hardens after long term use, adversely affecting mechanical, operation of the inkjet printer.
Thus, residual ink on a print head of the inkjet printer is typically removed by a conventional ink removal device. The ink removal device generally comprises a wiper for removing residual ink from the print head.
Nevertheless, some ink may remain on the wiper and harden after long-term operation, deteriorating removal performance thereof. Accordingly, an ink removal structure is required for removing the ink from the wiper.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a conventional inkjet printer 1 comprises a cartridge 11, a cartridge carrier 12, a driving means 13 and a maintenance portion 14. A print head P formed with multiple ink nozzles (not shown) is deployed on the bottom of the cartridge 11. As shown in FIG. 1B, an ink removal device 15 comprising a scraper 16 and a wiper 17 can be disposed in the maintenance portion 14. The scraper 16 is fixed in the ink removal device 15. The wiper 17 can reciprocate in a direction shown by arrow A. When the inkjet printer 1 performs maintenance, the cartridge carrier 12 moves onto the maintenance portion 14. The wiper 17 of the ink removal device 15 then reciprocates to clean the print head P (or ink nozzles) of the cartridge 11, as shown in FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C. Operation of the scraper 16 and wiper 17 is described in the following. The scraper 16 is hard plastic or metal and the wiper 17 is rubber. As shown in FIG. 1D and FIG. 1E, the wiper 17 deforms elastically due to obstruction of the scraper 16. Residual ink on the wiper 17 can thus be removed by rubbing the scraper 16.
The ink removal device 15, however, has the following drawback. Since the wiper 17 reciprocating to clean the scraper 16 requires large power, an additional driving means must be disposed in the inkjet printer 1 to drive the wiper 17. The driving means may comprise a motor and transmission mechanism, thus complicating the structure and assembly of the inkjet printer 1 and increasing manufacturing cost thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,906 discloses another ink removal device 2 comprising a wiper 21 and a scraper 22, as shown in FIG. 2A. The wiper 21 is fixed on the ink removal device 2 and the scraper 22 is rotatably disposed thereon. The scraper 22 can rotate in a direction shown by arrow B. As shown in FIG. 2A, when the ink removal device 2 moves in a direction shown by arrow C, the wiper 21 removes residual ink from a print head 23. As shown in FIGS. 2B, 2C and 2D, the ink removal device 2 continues to move in the direction shown by arrow C. When encountering a wall 24 of a maintenance portion, the scraper 22 rotates in a direction shown by arrow D around a rotating shaft 25. Since the wiper 21 is rubber, the wiper 21 deforms due to rotation of the scraper 22 and the residual ink thereon can thereby be removed. As shown in FIG. 2E, the ink removal device 2 then moves in a direction shown by arrow E to allow the wiper 21 to wipe the print head 23. Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 2F, 2G and 2H, the ink removal device 2 continues to move in the direction shown by arrow E. When again encountering the wall 24 of the maintenance portion, the scraper 22 rotates in a direction shown by arrow F around the rotating shaft 25. At this point, the wiper 21 again deforms due to rotation of the scraper 22 and the residual ink thereon can be removed.
The ink removal device 2, however, has a drawback as follows. A loud impact noise is created whenever the scraper 22 encounters the wall 24 of the maintenance portion. Additionally, the scraper 22 is easily stuck by the wiper 21.